The Moonlit Path
by serene-fire
Summary: Hermione and Bellatrix. Two different people, in two different worlds. Are they strong enough to walk down the path of fear and death? Only time will tell. The clock is ticking... For full summary, see story. Pairings:, HP/GW, RW/HG, BL/SS.


Full summary: Hermione and Bellatrix. Two different people in two different worlds. These two would never be friends had it not been for a certain night in the Forbidden Forest. Now, with a final war on the horizon, they must work together to save their loved ones. They must walk down the cold and frightening path of danger, with little knowledge of what lays ahead. Or of what their enemy is thinking and they must hurry for war is Death's banquet. Warning: AU , minor character death, minor violence. Disregards HBP, takes place at the start of 1997, at the start of Deathly Hallows.

THE MOONLIT PATH

CHAPTER ONE: NIGHT STALKER.

"Come on, you slowcoaches, we haven't got all day," Hagrid boomed. The little party of people quickened their pace. Hermione trudging along after Harry, Ron, Crabbe and Goyle. The latter two were muttering darkly under their breath about how horrible it wss to be out on detention with 'bludtraitors' and 'mudbluds' and scowling at Hermione, Ron and Harry. Hermione herself wasn't pleased about being here, either. She was miserable actually. How had she ended up here, on detention in a deep, terrifying forest in the middle of the night? All because of some stupid prank that Harry and Ron had played on Professor Snape, and he'd caught her laughing at it.

Hermione had never known that her teacher had wanted to be a model up until he was about 11.

Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle had been chortling heartily at Professor Snape as well., though Crabbe and Goyle got caught because they were too thick to stop laughing at Snape when he had looked their way. Only Draco hadn't been caught.

Somewhere up high, something let out a piercing cry. The leaves rustled , as if something was lurking within its depths . Waiting to get her…

The wind whistled eerily as it weaved through the wet and green leaves. It sounded strange in the deep stillness of the forest. Hermione trudged along, noting that the group were far ahead of her. She shivered as the nights' icy wind assaulted her. Something squelched beneath her trainers and she hurried along singing a little, soothing lullaby to herself.

She caught up with the party, enjoying the sudden comfort and safety of being part of a group.

"Lets all split up into partners," Hagrid suggested. "It might be easier to look for the creature whose been murderin' all those centaurs. Now remember send up red sparks if you're in trouble and white sparks if you've found anything. Stick to your partners and BE ALERT!" They were divided into partners: Ron with Hagrid, Fang snarling at his side and Ron looking slightly nauseous, Harry with Goyle [both their faces looked miserable] and Hermione with Crabbe. She cursed silently. Would she really be protected or find anything with _him_? It was a small possibility.

They continued their journey in silence and even though she wasn't alone, Hermione felt both alone and terrified simultaneously in spite of Crabbe being so close behind her,was close behind her and she could hear his heavy breathing., But it still did not provide her any comfort.

The forest was peculiarly quiet. The air felt heavy and Hermione was alert to every single sound that the forest made—the whispering of the wind as it ducked and dodged the leaves, the snapping of twigs, the cry of the birds—everything seemed magnified.

She sensed it before it actually came.

Danger.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a piercing and harsh cry was carried by the wind to Hermione's ears. Crabbe ran, his own voice shrieking into the night. A claw lunged out at her ,jacket nearly tearing her jacket, it was so fast and she only caught a glimpse of it. She got a closer look at it. It was connected to black paw with razor sharp claws. So sharp that it seemed as if it could rip a man apart.

Out of the tangle of leaves and twisting branches, an eye caught the moonlight.

It glinted red, looking savage and fierce yet it looked protective and scared at the same time. It was now so quiet that she could hear herself breath.

Not comforting at all.

Hermione noticed this took pity on the creature and was about to move when it howled uttered a guttural acclamation, shattering the temporary, uneasy silence.

It leapt out of its' cover amongst the leaves, its' hind legs spread out into an arch and its' black body taut and poised for attack. The creature landed on the ground. Baring it's pearly but canine sharp, white teeth, it snarled at Hermione. She still hadn't moved but now she knew what it was.

A Night Stalker werewolf.

A Night Stalker was one of the most ferocious creatures to ever exist in the magical world. It was known to decapitate a man with a single swift strike of it's claw.

Their diet was centaurs but humans would do just as well…

"Petrificus totalus!" she yelled desperately, pointing her wand at the creature. It howled in pain but it wasn't deterred from its goal. The spell seemed to only infuriate the beast more. It was just then that Hermione remembered something that Professor Lupin had taught them in class.

"_Do not fire any spells at a Night Stalker. Night Stalkers , like dragons, have a magical hide so it won't work effectively. But they are colour-blind however their sense of smell is 10 times better than dogs and their sight ranges from 30 to 500 metres. Their eyes are also accustomed to the dark.."_

Hermione cursed inwardly for not remembering it sooner but she had, at least, an idea. She ran , pounding through the forest until she found a tree and some bushes. She pulled off her black dark, olive green jacket and threw it over her face and hair and stepped quietly into the bushes. She pulled out a bottle of perfume entitled 'forest mist' and sprayed it all over herself.

***

The wolf paused in its search for it's prey as something rustled in the leaves.

"_Perhaps the human girl has gone out of the forest. Better still to check, she may just be trying to fool me. Pathetic human! What's that? The scent of perspiration on the soft flesh of nervous prey…" _the wolf thought as it pawed the ground and sniffed the air inquisitively.

***

Her heart pounded against her chest, as if it was in a cage and it was trying to break free. Hermione felt nauseous with fear, beads of sweat formed on her brow, her muscles beginning to cramp from standing so still and for so long.

A leech made its way to the human. Her skin looked so soft and warm: it had a radiant glow to it compared with the dark background. Hermione did not noticed it until it had crawled up onto her skin but she recognised it immediately.

An Ivy leech.

An Ivy leech was a poisonous type of leech that camouflaged itself in ivy. One suck and two seconds later it would inject a lethal poison that would paralyse the nerve system, and then it would travel to the heart, thus ceasing all electric pulses to your heart. Causing the victim to have an excruciatingly painful heart attack.

She quietly moved her hand to push it off, it didn't budge. Forgetting that the beast was near, she viciously swatted it away. Hermione froze but it was already too late.

She'd blown her cover.

The beast pounced on her, making her crash onto the hard earth.

Hermione tried to fight it off but it didn't even flinch. Once again bellowing uttering its coarse and warlike cry. It made a swipe at her neck, narrowly missing by inches, but still making a cut on her shoulder. It tried again and missed its target though it caught her neck, narrowly missing a vein. White hot pain followed a second later and Hermione yelped from it. It was as if there was someone who was branding her skin with red hot, searing pokers.

Meanwhile Harry had been walking with Hagrid in the forest, trying to find Goyle, when he heard a shrill scream.

"Hermione!" he thought and sped off into the vast forest. He muttered an incantation to show him the right directions and turned left, then right, and left again. As he burst through some bushes, he stumbled upon a horrifying scene and what he saw made him almost paralysed with shock. Hermione was cowering on the ground, the creature was looming over her and opening it's mouth. Its fangs were dangerously close to her head.

He leapt onto the creature and tried to fight it but it lunged at him. It struck a fierce blow on the side of his face and simultaneously bit him on the leg, reducing his bones to dust. Harry clung on for dear life. He suddenly spotted a small twig with unicorn blood and let go of the beasts' paws. He picked it up and threw himself onto the beast, nearly knocking it onto the ground and picked it up simultaneously kicking the beast and forced it down the beasts' throat.

It choked twice and lay on the ground, thrashing its legs in agony. After about a few minutes it lay.

Harry went over to Hermione and helped her up. She was grateful for the help, and felt much safer now that the creature was dead. She took a moment to enjoy the warmth and softness of his hand, even though they were a little rough.

"Thank you so much," she finally managed to say.

Hagrid burst out from the bushes.

"What happened here?" He demanded and looked down at the corpse of the wolf.

***

Hermione gratefully laid back in bed. She felt safe and the bed was so warm and so soft— just like a phoenixes' wing. The medicine that had been given for her cuts and bruises had been disgusting. She could still feel its bitter taste in her mouth. Harry, however, was forced to stay the Hospital Wing. She had managed to visit him when he was sleeping. She chuckled softly to herself as she thought how serene and innocent he had looked. But Madam Pomfrey would not let her stay for long, telling her that she needed her rest as well.

Her eyelids were quickly becoming heavy and it didn't take long before she succumbed to the sweet, soothing waves of sleep that were overwhelming her, a smile still on her face.

A/N: Read and review, if you like! Flames will be laughed at! And constructive criticism and short and sweet reviews are all welcome. I may not update regularly, it depends oh how fast I get it beta-ed.


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